Crimson Sky
by Renohan
Summary: Namikaze Naruto spends his days being harassed by his peers and wondering why his parents abandoned him. He goes off in search for them, hoping that he can rid himself of the demons that claw at his heels everywhere he goes and the curse that his father bestowed upon him. But nothing is always as they seem, and he will learn that the hard way as he slowly realizes his dark purpose.


"Naruto. Naruto!"

The blond boy almost forgot where he was. He snapped back to reality.

His sky-blue eyes had been directed outside of the sun-glazed window to his immediate left, but he shifted his stare from the hustle and bustle of the village back to his pony-tailed instructor. Naruto had a tendency to daydream, especially during class.

"Sorry, Iruka." Naruto spoke under his breath.

Iruka threw his student a look. The kind that tells a kid that their superior is getting annoyed with reiterating themselves. "What out there is more important than what I'm teaching?" He adjusted his olive-green multi, pocketed shinobi vest.

Silence.

Naruto's eyes slowly moved to the floor just beneath the standard shinobi sandals Iruka wore, and the boy's gaze softened and his facial muscles loosened, not because he knew what was coming, but because something had been eating away at him. Clearly, Iruka failed to notice. Most of the class trained their stares on him, as if waiting for a response also.

"My parents."

That was all Naruto said. However, those two words seemed to chill the air and send inaudible murmurs flying across the room. The glares from Iruka and his peers pierced his soul and crushed his body. He even swore he could feel the numbing effect of killing intent. He refrained from sending his attention back out the window, and he stared back at those who looked at him like he had just publicly humiliated the instructor.

And maybe he did, because Iruka's only rebuttal was, "See me after class."

As Iruka continued on with his chalked lecture about hand seals and jutsu, Naruto folded his arms on his desk and laid his aching head down.

After Naruto's 50 minute nap, Iruka pulled a chair up next to the blond and heaved a sigh as he sat in it. Naruto could only observe the old, crusty gash that ran across Iruka's nose as the instructor lectured him on his behavior. Iruka's hands appeared to have a mind of their own when he spoke seriously.

Having only one thing on his mental, the boy felt the need to interject at some point before Iruka had a chance to ramble on. "You never once mentioned my parents." he said in a monotonous tone.

Iruka sighed, adjusting the Yamagakure-branded hitai-ite he wore around his forehead and scratching his scalp through his blanket of black hair. "Look, Naruto, your par-"

"No need to keep it from him any longer. He deserves to know at this point." A deep voice spoke – no, boomed – from the doorway. "Naruto, meet me in my office later."

Naruto immediately recognized the voice as Hiruzen's, the Kage, despite the man's silhouetted figure. For as long as the boy could remember, the elderly man had been something of a guardian to him. Teaching him. Nurturing him. Of course, Naruto was truly grateful, showing him more respect than he'd ever shown anyone else in the village. To say that he looked up to him would be an understatement.

But since discovering things about his lineage and maturing with each passing year, Naruto's attitude gradually changed over time.

They both turned to directly face Hiruzen. It was also customary to address his position upon his entrance into any room or facility within the village.

"Kage-sama," Iruka boldly barked.

"Hiruzen," Naruto said softly. He avoided eye contact.

Iruka threw a glance at Naruto, but the boy's face remained blank, unchanged.

Hiruzen's wrinkled face was stoic, as it always was. "We haven't shot the breeze in awhile anyway, don't ya think?" He was speaking to him from across the room, and he flashed a smirk.

Naruto couldn't help but admire the cadence the Kage carried in each and every syllable of each and every word he spoke. Hell, his speaking voice could travel miles. Any other day, Naruto would've shown a bit more attentiveness and liveliness, but he simply chose to quickly exit the class without saying another word.

CS – CS – CS – CS – CS

Outside, each one of the blond's sensations were pelted as he absorbed the noisy hustle and bustle of Yamagakure and inhaled the pungent aroma from a ramen shop across the street. On a secluded playground, Naruto slowly swung on a swing set next to the small slide and the training dummy, swinging his feet to move since his sandals hovered just above the gravel. He saw that his small, orange vest appeared to be glowing in the light of the afternoon sun, and even though his undershirt slightly irritated his skin, he shrugged off the sensation.

His hands gripped the warm steel of the chains that kept him suspended as he tilted his head back and swung his legs forward, trying not to look like he was giving off too much angst. He did genuinely enjoy the feeling of disorientation it brought about.

Just when he thought he was about to lose his balance, three academy students approached his personal space from behind. Naruto forced himself upright and continued to swing his small legs back and forth, acting as if he didn't notice them. The boys surrounded the swing in a nonchalant manner as they stared the blond down, two standing on either side of him and the other directly in front. There was silence for about a minute as the screech of the chains permeated the humid air.

"Naruto," the boy in front of him said, apparently the ring leader. His name was Takeshi, an academy student, in fact, they all were.

The blond kept swinging, looking through Takeshi as if he was invisible. The other two boys he didn't know at all, so it wasn't hard for him to ignore their presence.

"Why are you always alone?" Takeshi asked. He lifted his brunette bangs out of his hazel eyes. "Huh? Do you think you're better than everyone else?"

With that, Naruto raised his sky blue eyes and stared into Takeshi's. They were devoid of any emotion it seemed.

"Yeah, I think that's it. That's why he ain't answering," the boy to his left said, as if he could read Naruto's thoughts behind his wall of silence. He didn't bother turning to acknowledge him.

Takeshi crept forward, apparently trying to intimidate Naruto with his size; he was taller than his other two cohorts by a noticeable margin. Even so, Naruto didn't budge.

"If you think you're so much better, then let's see you fight back," Takeshi said, shoving Naruto's chest and putting him flat on his back.

The blond took it full force, feeling the strength the boy carried in his unusually large frame. Naruto rose to his feet, brushing the dirt and dust off of his pants and vest, the areas of his chest softly throbbing where Takeshi had placed his hands when he shoved him.

"This is a dog-eat-dog world, kid," Takeshi stated. He stood over Naruto now, towering.

Naruto received a swift kick to the back of his left leg by one of the other boys that brought him down on his knee, and Takeshi followed it up by kicking the downed blond in his chest, sending his legs forward and knocking him onto his back once again.

"He even thinks he's better than Iruka-sensei," one of the other boys said.

The breathless Naruto rose slowly and deliberately, realizing that these boys just spoke out of their asses and that, even worse, no one helped shinobi when they fought their battles, and academy students were no exception, thereby creating a bystander effect within the village walls.

"And how can you think of yourself as superior when you're a failure?" Takeshi asked in a mocking tone. "We've seen your grades. They're shit. Just like you."

Naruto directed his malice-filled gaze up at Takeshi, his head pounding. Suddenly, the air in the vicinity got increasingly dry and humid as the other two boys continued to throw insults at the downed blond. His skinned palms slowly began to heal, though none of them noticed, and he nearly clutched his stomach in pain, a sharp sensation shooting through his gut and pelvic region.

Takeshi took a step back without even knowing why he did. However, the strange sensation didn't stop him from stepping forward and attempting to strike Naruto with a large, bony fist. As his arm sliced through the air, it was intercepted just as quickly as he swung it. A hand held Takeshi's wrist with a vice-grip, and that hand belonged to Uchiha Sasuke.

Takeshi gritted his teeth. "This is none of your damn business, Sasuke!"

Sasuke was about to open his mouth to speak, but froze for a moment, now aware of the massive amount of killing intent that saturated the area. Perhaps it was the reason why he could feel Takeshi trembling, either out of anger or fear, but Sasuke believed it to be the latter. He also noted that the other two boys had been long gone.

"He's none of your business either," he retorted. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size, huh?" Sasuke looked him over up and down as he asked him that. "I could break your arm."

With that, Takeshi jerked his arm away from the raven-black haired Uchiha, afraid that he actually could. He backed away slowly, apparently facing two threats now. "Daddy won't always be there to help you, Naruto!"

Those words sparked the blond to life. He swiftly rose to his feet, but Takeshi had already taken off in the other direction. Calm slowly returned to the atmosphere and to the two boys that remained. As Naruto slumped down against a large, shady tree, Sasuke noticed that the killing intent dissipated, also realizing who was at the epicenter. With his hands in his pockets, he strode over to the tree and leaned back against it, standing next to Naruto. The blond observed the collected Sasuke through his peripheral vision; he was slightly taller than Naruto, and not just because he was on the ground at the moment. The two relaxed in a contemplative silence for a minute or two.

Sasuke breathed. "Man, you're a better person than I am. If that were me, Takeshi would've been picking his teeth up off the ground." His voice conveyed more of a joking tone than anything else.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Why what?" Sasuke asked back with a chuckle, his eyes on the red-orange sky.

"You know what. Why did you interfere?"

"Why not? And a simple thank you would suffice, Naruto," Sasuke responded, throwing his peer a subtle smirk.

"I was just wondering. I mean...you're the academy prodigy. You make straight A's and get good marks in every training exercise."

"What's your point?"

"I just don't understand why someone like you would care about someone like me," Naruto responded, never taking his eyes off the gravel.

"I don't know you or know much about you, but I saw that you could probably use a hand. So I gave you mine. I just felt obligated to. Don't think about it too deeply."

Silence.

Sasuke continued. "But you know, maybe you should get yourself some protection in the event you are overwhelmed or attacked again."

Protection? Naruto began to wonder if Sasuke was merely speaking out of his ass also. He shook his head in disagreement. "Don't worry about me."

Sasuke pushed himself off the tree. "Well, Naruto, whatever happens, I hope you find your purpose."

The Uchiha began to walk away, looking as calm and cool as ever, but Naruto called out for him. He stopped without turning around. "What do you plan on doing?"

Sasuke gazed up at the ocean of blue, observing a flock of blackbirds as they disappeared into the canopy. He turned halfway and threw him a smirk, though Naruto was too far away to recognize it as such. "I'm going to find mine."

CS – CS – CS – CS – CS

The walk back to his apartment was a short one, as it was within walking distance of the academy and almost every other commodity in the village. However, the walk was wrought with stares and looks of confusion form many of the citizens. Naruto didn't understand why people looked at him the way they did, but he tried to ignore that and their murmurs to the best of his ability.

Upon entering his second-floor apartment, he found his bed and heaved a sigh as he sat on it, almost sinking into the mattress. He ignored the rumble in the pit of his stomach and instead thought of his parents, prompting him to look over at the picture that sat on his headboard. It was a beautiful picture of a blond man whose hair draped down both sides of his head and a red-headed woman, pressed against each other in a gentle embrace. The woman's smile was soft yet evident and the man's was a wide, proud, and toothy grin. With their free hands, they held a blond, crying infant.

Naruto took the picture out of the frame and read the words that had been written on the back, though the ink was just starting to fade.

_ We love you dearly, Naruto. __Y__ou __are __going to do something extraordinary with your life. __We know it._

_Love, Mom and Dad_

He read it over and over, and whenever he did, he would daydream, imagining what they looked like now.

What they smelled like.

What they felt like.

What they sounded like.

It concerned him to no end, but he didn't let those thoughts overwhelm him, though they easily could. After devouring a small bowl of leftover ramen from his fridge, he left his quarters and braced himself for the news ahead.

CS – CS – CS – CS – CS

Naruto slowly approached the Kage's office door, but stopped short when he heard voices coming from inside. He was positive that one of the voices belonged to Hiruzen but couldn't recognize the other. After softly tapping the office door, the voices died down to murmurs, then to silence. After his verbal permission, Naruto soon peered his head into the spacious room, watching as Hiruzen ignited a cigar. The boy took a step inside after receiving a nod of approval.

Naruto slowly observed the remodeled room. The circular shaped office held many shelves and glass bookcases of every important document in Yamagakure, various books and scrolls about clans, shinobi history, ninjutsu. Some of them, Naruto had been told, were older than the village. There was always that familiar air of ancient wisdom that wafted through the room whenever he stepped foot into Hiruzen's office. Unlike the rest of his working space, his desk was usually cluttered with papers, books and pens and his face was always buried in the mess.

He cleared most of the desk and took a long drag from his cigar, blowing the smoke in another direction rather than in Naruto's. He stared the boy in his eyes the entire time, and Naruto stared back into his. After seating himself in the cushioned chair in front of the desk, the blond carefully took something out of his pocket and laid it on top of some papers.

Taking another drag from his tobacco stick, the elder glanced down at the picture, then back into Naruto's eyes. He knew what the boy wanted.

"Naruto, you've come to the age where you're able to realize things. Piece things together. I knew eventually that you'd figure out that your parents weren't going to come back to the village."

"If you knew, then why didn't you tell me? Something, anything. I was left in the dark," the boy said, maintaining the composure he entered with. But his voice shook with surfacing anger.

"You weren't left in the dark. You were just too young to understand. Why do you think they left you that picture? Why do you think they left you in my care?"

Naruto stared down at the picture for a moment. "So...are they dead?"

Silence, as Hiruzen exhaled an O-shaped cloud of smoke.

"Answer me, Hiruzen," Naruto said, raising his voice a couple of notches and taking both him and his superior off guard. "Please."

"I wish I knew, Naruto." With those words, the boy angrily lifted himself from his seat and paced the room. "I really do." Hiruzen's face and tone were filled with sympathy. "But I suspect there is reason behind their not telling anyone their whereabouts."

"I find that hard to believe," the boy quickly fired back, speaking softly.

"Believe what you want, Naruto, but deep down in your soul, you believe they're alive."

Naruto always found himself impressed with Hiruzen's empathy and understanding of people. It bordered on extrasensory perception. Naruto nodded in response.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. You have faith in them. Hope..and that's all you need."

Naruto stood at the window on the right side of the office and stared out across the village. Then he converged his vision and stared into the blue eyes that reflected off the glass.

"There's something you need to know, Naruto. Your parents had many enemies and allies. Perhaps they still do." Hiruzen corrected himself, careful not to show any semblance of doubt. "There is one person on the planet who may know where they are."

Naruto turned his head to Hiruzen, his ears wide open and his attention focused on every word the Kage spoke from here on out.

"I've told you a little about him before. No one knows his true identity because he always wears some sort of mask that covers everything except his eyes. He's only known as the Copycat Shinobi because of his ability to copy ninjutsu. Sound familiar?"

Naruto didn't even have to think about it. "The Sharingan of the Uchiha clan."

"Right, but here's the kicker: he isn't an Uchiha. The man is just shrouded in mystery. He's also extremely elusive, and there are rumors that he has unrestricted access to any location on the planet."

"He must have some serious connections. Makes me wonder how he ever got involved with my parents."

"Look at your stomach."

Naruto didn't have to physically look in order to understand what Hiruzen was getting at. Every morning before classes, the boy stood in front of his mirror and stared at the tattoo-like markings that were burned into the skin of his belly. It consisted of a large spiral surrounded by eight connected seals that stretched outward.

He simply put his hand underneath his shirt and rubbed his fingers across the slightly raised markings.

Hiruzen continued. "It's a seal. Well, an external seal."

Naruto's eyes got wide and the elder took notice. So before the boy could make a comment or ask a question, he continued.

"The Copycat Shinobi helped your father develop that seal." Hiruzen slowly brought his cigar to his lips and took a slow inhale, pausing for a brief moment to acknowledge the trembling of his hand. "How do I know? Because I helped them seal Kurama, the demon."

Naruto sat in silence, his mouth to the floor. He wasn't surprised at all that Hiruzen was actually the last person in the village to have seen his parents. No, instead, his mind was now on the demon he supposedly had been carrying inside of him all his life.

Again, the Kage noticed the boy's reaction. _"__He seems to have suppressed most of his memories concerning his parents and the demon. He doesn't appear to remember anything."_

"Naruto, I know this is a lot to grasp, but–"

"So...I'm possessed?"

Hiruzen clipped the end of another cigar and lit it with his engraved, antique flip lighter. He didn't want to be too blunt, but at this point it didn't matter. "Yes. I don't know how many seals your father created, but the one on your stomach is surely one of them. All I know is that that specific seal is designed to keep the demon's chakra at a reasonable level."

He took a prolonged drag from his cigar. Naruto stared into the elder's eyes, sure that there was more to tell him. Besides, Hiruzen had inadvertently implied that there was more behind it.

"Reasonable level?" Naruto asked.

The Kage's face was sympathetic once again as he exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Otherwise, the potency of Kurama's chakra will kill you."

There was a moment of silence as Naruto took in the severity of everything he was being told. He was starting to regret giving Hiruzen his undivided attention.

He swiftly changed the subject. "How old are you, Naruto? Going on 17?"

"Yeah, in a few months," the boy responded with a light nod. He spoke softly.

The elder reclined in his large, leather office chair and enveloped himself in a cloud of smoke that was soon carried out of the window behind him. Naruto sat still and stoic.

"Well, son," he paused, taking a puff from his cigar. "as you may already know, the Chunin exam is approaching. The theme this year will be survival and tracking. So I want you to participate in this one. Before it starts, I'm going to put you through a training regiment, and Iruka is going to help out."

Naruto wasn't particularly excited about the idea of a training program, but he didn't want to object against it either. He couldn't help but wonder how much good it would do for him in the long run. The boy heaved a sigh. "When do we start?"

"Immediately. In fact, Iruka and I have already contacted your training partner. She will be your partner for the exam too."

"She?" Naruto asked, pretending not to seem the least bit surprised.

"Yes. She." Hirzuen pulled his flip phone out of his desk drawer and pushed one button before raising it to his ear. Speed dial. Naruto knew he was calling Iruka. The old man wasn't joking when he said immediately.

He nodded and repositioned the phone on his ear as he exhaled enough smoke to give Iruka a taste of his cigar's flavor. After a few more nods and "Mm-hm's" and "Okays," Hiruzen dipped his cigar in his stain-glassed ashtray and rose to his feet. "Let's go, son. They're ready."

Naruto left the office right behind Hiruzen and followed him to the man's car, which was parked in the large public garage underneath the even larger Shinobi Academy building. In the passenger seat, Naruto gazed out at the passing buildings and faces until there were nothing but mountains left to gaze at. Hiruzen navigated a wide dirt road after driving through a spacious valley, mountains and cliffs and boulders rising up on either side of them. Naruto felt uneasy.

The sun's decent past the mountains began to paint the sky. The blond settled into his cloth seat and prepared for a long drive ahead. But the car suddenly came to a halt and Hiruzen turned off the engine. The boy looked around, maintaining his constant stoic gaze. The old man got out the car, and Naruto followed suit.

"Is this it?" he asked, leaning back on the hood of the car.

"This is it," his superior responded, lighting a cigarette.

Naruto heard the flick of his lighter and glanced back at him. He slowly shook his head. "Those fucking things are going to kill you," the blond stated, turning his gaze back to the mountains that loomed before them.

"Watch your mouth, Naruto."

A long and awkward silence followed, accompanied by the howls and calls of many of the animals that inhabited the mountains, especially the nocturnal ones. The sky remained orange, but light was quickly diminishing. As Naruto felt himself dozing off, a pair of headlights bathed much of the area in a white light, sparking the boy back to life.

"'Bout time," Hiruzen said as he tossed his cigarette butt and rubbed it into the dirt.

Iruka turned the car off and stepped out and his passenger stepped out behind him, meeting at the front of his car.

"I was beginning to wonder if you forgot where this place was, Iruka," the Kage said jokingly.

"How could I ever?"

Naruto jumped off the hood of the car and turned to acknowledge the two, especially his pink haired partner. She wore a dark green vest like Iruka's, just without the pockets and padding, and beneath that, she wore a skin tight, long-sleeved, black shirt. She wore black leggings and also those standard shinobi sandals.

She looked at him with a gentle smile. Her teal eyes were serene. "Naruto, right? I'm Sakura Haruno."

The two shook hands, Sakura firmly and Naruto weakly.


End file.
